Don Ness believes on the outside he didn’t look so lucky, but on the inside he knows he was very fortunate. On February 12, the veteran chassis builder from Minnesota was severely injured in a machine shop accident.

“I’m going through rehab because I’m trying to get the motion back into my arm but it’s going good,” said an upbeat Ness, who has since returned to work on a limited basis. “I can move everything and I’m really the luckiest guy in the world.

To understand how lucky Ness was, you must understand just how unlucky of a situation he encountered. Ness was milling a thick piece of aluminum, and as the mill turned, it was discarding long chips of metal. As a safety precaution, Ness put on a pair of leather gloves to prevent a burn from the chips.

One of the chips snagged his glove and quickly pulled him into the mill.

“I didn’t put my hand in the cutter or anything like that, I was doing everything right,” Ness explained. “It basically jammed me through the mill in about a hundredth of a second. I had it turned up pretty good.”

Ness’ arm became entangled in the mill, breaking his arm and severely injuring his pinkie finger. The leather glove stopped the cutter and prevented further damage but by this time Ness could see the bone in his arm had broken the skin.

“It was the worst thing that ever happened to me and the best thing by far,” Ness said of his decision to wear the glove. “I jammed my head and half my body was through this [milling machine] and it was still going and somehow or another I got my arm to the switch and jammed it.”

Miraculously, Ness, in his efforts to hit the emergency switch accidentally enabled the reverse switch which allowed him to escape for the machine.

“It actually went in reverse and started moving my arm and everything out of there,” said Ness. “Then I was in shock because my head was bleeding, my glasses were gone and then my arm is looking pretty bad with both bones sticking right out of my arm and everything.”

Ness had the presence of mind to understand if he didn’t get help immediately he was prone to go into shock, and eventually die. He made his way to the door of his shop, where the outside temperature was -10 degrees.

“I knew I had better lay down because I was going to fall down,” recalled Ness. “So I laid down right by the front door and then the cold sort of cauterized all the blood and everything.”

Unfortunately for Ness, his shop door closed behind him and locked, and he had dropped his keys into a small gap between the door and the ground. Ness was able to make his way to the back door of the shop, which was fortunately unlocked.

AfterBefore“I couldn’t see my phone or anything because there was blood running all over my head,” said Ness. “I actually saw just a picture [icon on his cell phone] of my girlfriend so I’m hitting that and she answered after four or five rings because I kept calling back. I told her just call 911.”

Ness then went in and wrapped towels around his mangled arm, and did his best to maintain consciousness. He had suffered a head injury which turned out to be a concussion.

“It was a mess,” Ness admitted. “I could have bled out really easily if I hadn’t have gone outside, I think. If my head had hit just wrong on the mill I could have still been there.”

The ambulance arrived shortly and Ness was transported to a local hospital, which quickly sent him to a major trauma center in Minneapolis. The doctors set his arm, which was broken in 15 places, and ended up having to amputate the finger. His surgery last five-and-a-half hours.

“They were able to put it all back and the doctor did an excellent job,” said Ness. “I’m the luckiest man in the world. Somebody else was taking care of me, believe me.”

Ever the innovator, Ness went to work not on race car parts but his cast.

“When they put the cast on me, they put it over everything,” Ness explained. “I had like sixty stitches in my arm to sew it all back together because the bone was sticking straight through there. Then they put the cast on over the top of it and everything. You know me there were a couple of places it was tight and I go back to the shop. I start cutting holes in that cast. By the time I got back there when they took it off it actually looked a little bit like Swiss cheese. I had like four or five holes in it so I could get some air to the wound underneath the cast.”

If his doctor should need chassis work, he’ll know to call Ness for his attention to detail. Or, maybe a cast hole cutting.

“It was really crazy, the doctor said, ‘Wow I would have never guessed how well this thing would have healed up, you did an excellent job. If I ever need to cut holes in a cast I’m calling you.”

Ness confirmed the surgery to repair his arm required 18 titanium screws. The recovery, he admits, required a positive spirit.

“I’m recovering very well and I’m back in the shop doing some things,” said Ness, who confirmed he has about four weeks left in the rehabilitation process. “I haven’t been back to that machine that got me yet but I’m about ready to do that, too.

“If you knew that you were going to lose a finger and you had to pick one you would probably pick your left hand pinkie finger if you’re right handed. And that’s the one that went. It was definitely a wake-up for me and I was born on a mill machine. I’ve been on a mill for 40 years so I knew what they could do to you.”

Ness found out one night the true meaning of being an unlucky lucky man.

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